Don Cooper

Information from travel and study of various world cultures has greatly influenced my work. While traveling in India I became familiar with the concept of the bindu. It often appears as a single dot in Indian painting and sculpture. This Sanskrit word has various definitions. It may represent the dot or point at which the universe expands and recedes. It may be a nucleus of condensed energy, a seed of being and consciousness, or a chakra or energy center located at the top of the head.

The paintings are both experimental and experiential. Beyond the initial central starting point and concentric circle framework, very little of the painting is planned. Variation of color appears almost magically from multiple layers of extremely transparent liquid acrylic and watercolor. The colors form and change gradually as each layer is applied. Any illusion of texture is due to the random brushwork of the gesso ground on the canvas. The paintings grow very slowly, over hours, days and weeks. There is no attempt to represent reality or to illustrate a narrative. The paintings are free of such things as irony, angst or political or social meaning. If the paintings are about anything, it is the moment in time that they are created and the moment in time that they are experienced by the viewer. The creation of these paintings is both meditative and ritualistic. The hand moves the brush loaded with liquid color around and around the concentric circles. Each rotation is a connection to the Whole.